


Expectations

by BuddyTheMeanPeacock



Series: Drabbles and Oneshots (DimiClaude) [28]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Crimson Flower Route, Gen, M/M, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Spoilers for Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28930335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddyTheMeanPeacock/pseuds/BuddyTheMeanPeacock
Summary: He always knew he would die first.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Series: Drabbles and Oneshots (DimiClaude) [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561504
Comments: 8
Kudos: 45





	Expectations

Of the two of them, Dimitri always knew he'd be the first to die.

It was natural, given his and Claude's natures. Claude is careful, intuitive, clever; he'd never let himself get into a situation he couldn't scrap out of. He cares too much for his life, plans everything too thoroughly. Of course Claude would die eventually, but only due to the Goddess Herself taking him back in Her arms sometime in years to pass, nothing to lesser than that.

Dimitri... is not the same. He knew himself to be reckless, allowing his emotions to overcome him too easily to lend itself to a long-lasting lifetime. He tries, truly, but it is a flaw he has had for as long as he could remember. His life... he does not hold it to such a degree as Claude does his, much to his friend's dismay; it was a wonder Dimitri still lives now, if he were to be honest with himself.

Dimitri looks, now, across the table to Claude, his dazzling verdant eyes bright as he recounts another tale that has enraptured him at the moment, and Dimitri smiles, selfishly glad that he will never be able to witness his light be snuffed.

* * *

_Dear Dimitri,_

_If you've received this letter, then... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. But I've died._

_Before anything else, I want you to know that no, if you had finished that one battle faster, or if you'd sent that one more letter, or whatever nonsense has surely filled your head, it wouldn't have changed anything. This isn't your fault. Fate said I was gonna die when I did, and hey, we both know how powerful the fates can be, right?_

Of the two of them, on the 31st of the Guardian Moon, Claude dies before Dimitri.

Dimitri's territory, while under as much duress as it was, was still fortified by those who've long been taught how to fight, by the mountainous terrain that separates Faerghus from it southern neighbor. Claude knew his own had no such protections, and gave everything he had to make himself and his land unworthy of combat. For five years that was enough to hold back the forces of the Empire.

And then it simply wasn't.

A messenger, her pegasus near death and herself faring little better, delivered the letter mere moments ago. Dimitri sits, now, in his chambers, alone. He has finished the letter. It details **her** forces, how formidable they were on the Great Bridge, how Lady Judith's surviving men who've managed to escape detail how retreat was not an option allowed by the Empire, their number, the tactics they used. Details. Important details, that he must relay to his commanders.

Dimitri sits on his bed, numb, alone.

It is dark.

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to put this little twitter drabble here on my AO3 :P
> 
> Always found it weird that Dimitri's POV about Claude's death in Crimson Flower was never shown in game when the lords all have their own reactions to each other lords' deaths. A slight delve into how this man who always knew he'd die young would react to outliving someone as dedicated to surviving as Claude
> 
> Tagged as both Gen and M/M because this could be seen either platonically or romantically :p


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